CCBC to host boxing showcase

The Crescent City Boxing Club and their anti-youth crime program, “Gloves Not Guns”, are partnering with USA Boxing to host the Crescent City Crown Boxing Showcase on Saturday.

The event will feature all 20 members of the Gloves Not Guns program, which includes 25 boxing clubs stretching from Texas to Florida. The amateur boxers participating in the showcase range from ages 8 to 33, according to William Montgomery, the head trainer at the CCBC.

This will be the first time the New Orleans members of the program get to fight in front of their home crowd.

“We’re just trying to help clean up the streets, man,” Montgomery said. “We’re trying to give the kids something to do, because a lot of them have nothing to do.”

According to Montgomery, the process of getting Saturday’s showcase to happen began when the CCBC hosted the Junior Olympics at their gym earlier in the year and Montgomery thought bringing more events like this to New Orleans could do great things for the community.

“Everything went smooth (with the Junior Olympics), so we figured we should keep trying to put tournaments together so we can limit the violence in New Orleans,” Montgomery said. “We want to show the parents that if you’re looking for something to get your kid into, we can guide them the right way.”

One fighter Montgomery was especially excited to see was nine-year old Tyrone Johnson, or “King Tut”, as Montgomery likes to refer to him. Johnson is a Straight-A student, who will be fighting in front of his friends and family for the first time on Saturday, and an example of the impact the Gloves Not Guns program can have on younger kids that get involved at an early age, according to Montgomery.

“There are a lot of kids in the city getting raised in one-parent homes,” he said. “It’s a strain for one parent to raise a child, it’s a lot to ask. So we try to pay attention what’s going on with people so we can help them.”

The event will be held at the Crescent City Boxing Club, on 3101 Erato Street. The weigh-ins start at 2 p.m. and the fights begin at 6 p.m.